Encore
by mabel-but-slytherin
Summary: The stage is set and the script rewritten, all that the world is waiting for now is for Lucifer to break the cage and start the Apocalypse anew. But Lucifer isn't going back to Sam Winchester and Team Free Will. The Devil's in the details and found two new vessels to make an alternate ending, and Hell isn't planning on letting Heaven or humanity win this encore. Curtain Call sequel
1. Chapter 1

So this is the beginning of the long-awaited sequel to Afterlife/Curtain Call, and since it's one of sapphireswimming's favorite stories I've done I knew I had to post it on (the day after) her birthday!

I will say that the first two fics in the series and the outline for this were all written January 2015ish (wow, time flies) so there was obviously no Ford or Weirdmageddon at the time. This story remains Twin Theory compliant, but for plot's sake I'm going to have to say that Weirdmageddon never happened. So, to keep Gravity Falls in line, imagine that Mabel went into the woods in Dipper & Mabel VS the Future, had a good cry and an argument with Dipper convincing him to come home with her rather than stay with Ford, Ford was disappointed but relieved that nothing they were able to seal the rift (Bill wasn't after it, Ford was simply justly paranoid) and both twins are now home in Piedmont.

None of the above has anything to do with the plot beyond "the twins are now home in Piedmont" but this series is already self-pandering with what-ifs and headcanons so there.

Also, while it's not 100% necessary, I would re-read Curtain Call if you haven't in a long time. Especially the last sentence. The last sentence provides about all the context you need to know how this happened if you think about it.

Lastly, enjoy! I know a couple people were waiting a long time for this and I hope it's worth the wait!

* * *

Mabel Pines was always far too heavy a sleeper for her own good. Not that she was aware of it.

It hid the young girl from too many midnight anomalies that took place in her home, largely coming from Grunkle Stan working on the portal in the basement of the Mystery Shack. She could sleep through bright lights, ungodly sounds (like Dipper's summer reading), and even, on one occasion, the reversal of gravity. This innate ability shared by both of the Pines twins but particularly the elder allowed her to wake up in the morning refreshed and completely undisturbed, with her bountiful supply of energy and innocence intact.

It was also very good at hiding warning signs.

Maybe if she had awoken in the middle of the night none of this would have occurred.

But to be fair, unlikely coincidences are the strings most carefully pulled by the hands of fate. Or in this case, the dream demon impersonating as such.

There were still plenty of blaring warnings when Mabel opened her eyes that morning.

She took in the room with the general greeting of optimism she did every day. Although her room in Piedmont still seemed a bit foreign compared to the attic in the Mystery Shack (despite having been back home for the months between the end of summer and the middle of fall), it had more personal touches that made it hers: she had lived in it her whole live, after all. After mouthing good morning to Several Timez on the wall, Sock Puppet Mabel on the bedpost, and Bear-O underneath the sheets (Dipper insisted that thing be kept out of eyesight), her eyes darted left to say her first out loud greeting to her twin in the same tradition she had every morning since he moved in (they both wanted to share a room after the summer in Gravity Falls, and when Dipper saw the piles of stuffed animals in her room he insisted he move in so she wouldn't have to pack), only to see his bed was empty.

That was odd. Mabel could've sworn her little brother went to bed last night. He always tried to take advantage of the lack of school nights over weekends to stay up studying the journal or some other mystery in an all-nighter, but the elder twin had gone out of her way to make sure Dipper got some sleep, even forcibly dragging him to bed and tucking (shoving) him in under the covers so he couldn't escape. The half-hazard mess of the sheets at the far end of the bed confirmed her suspicions (Dipper was far too lazy to ever make his own bed, and it reflected all the signs of the inevitable morning struggle when he woke up).

But generally if Dipper needed to be forcibly put to sleep he was tired enough (albeit stubborn while still awake) to sleep much later than this into the morning. Or at least if he woke up early he had the decency to read in bed so Mabel wouldn't freak out as she was this morning by him being gone. Sniffing the air ruled out the possibility of their parents surprising them with early morning waffles (though if there was one thing Mabel never slept through it was appetizing aromas), so the mystery still remained of why Dipper left.

Blegh. He was the one who was liked solving weird mysteries.

Her slipper-clad feet padded out the bedroom door and into the hallway, on their way downstairs in search for her twin, habitually rubbing her eyes to adjust to the sunlight pouring through the rose-shaped window at the end when Mabel realized that a figure was blocking most of the usual sunlight from coming through.

A Dipper-shaped figure.

He was standing with his back to her, gazing into the garden below with his hands locked behind his back in what could almost be called a stiff impersonation of Great Uncle Ford. Without Wendy's usual fur hat on (Dipper hardly took the thing off since returning from Gravity Falls) Mabel could see that his usually unkempt hair was brushed and combed back. His outfit, while consisting of Dipper's favorite shirt and vest with fall jeans to match the weather, was obviously clean, unusually so for a Sunday morning.

All in all, the boy in front of her was clearly recognizable as Dipper, but struck Mabel as an entirely foreign entity from her brother.

That alone was enough to make her pause.

As if he just heard the flopping of her slippers now that they stopped, Dipper slowly turned around, facing Mabel and meeting her curious gaze.

His eyes had never appeared so dead.

There was emotion there, and a presence, but rather than the lovable anxiousness and energy that she associated with her little brother or even the manically malicious fire Bipper exuded, now her twin's gaze seem calculating and cold, assessing her for far too long to be sincere before his lips shifted into a smile carefully framed to be reassuring. "Hello Mabel."

His voice was soft and low, as foreign as the time Dipper changed his voice without any of the charm. There was an alluring effect, and if it was a stranger speaking to her that way Mabel would be lying if she wouldn't admit that she'd be a little intrigued, but now there was only one thought pounding through her mind.

"You're not Dipper."

His smooth face seemed to soften even more at the accusation, treating it more the way one would a wounded dove frantically beating against a caring grasp. Head tilting to complete the effect he began moving slowly towards her, that understanding smile still in place. "No, I'm not. Although your brother is here right now. He says hi."

"Who are you and what did you do to him?"

"I'm not going to hurt him. I'm not going to hurt either of you. I am an angel who unfortunately needs a vessel in order to interact with the Earth. You may have heard of me, my name is Lucifer."

Mabel's hard gaze met his, still closed off to the idea of anything but Dipper inside of her brother, "If you're an angel, where are your wings?"

Dipper- no, Lucifer, looked over his shoulder at nothing in particular before reaching a single hand out to stroke the air around his sides. "They're here, it's just your eyes simply cannot see them." A soft smile made its way across his face as he continued the action- _stroking his wings_ , Mabel's mind filled in. "My brothers used to tell me they were the most beautiful wings in all of Heaven."

Mabel could feel the inclination towards awe growing within her at the creature, it had been months since she's seen a supernatural entity (ever since they left Gravity Falls), but a cold wariness set in as she remembered who the angel in front of her was possessing in order to have this conversation.

What would Dipper want her to do?

Mabel's eyes darted around the quiet hallway as she tried to think of what her twin would be doing in this situation. It felt disorienting, standing in the middle of her home, where she had spent most of her life running through without stopping to notice the place yet having every memory ingrained, then to have the entire atmosphere shift into something completely foreign.

Lucifer stopped his careful preening to look back at her after a minute, and the feeling of his gaze made Mabel even more confused. The angel's presence behind her brother's eyes had a serene feel, one that made him seem infinitely patient despite obviously waiting for her to respond and answer the unspoken question of how she would react to the surprisingly calm creature inhabiting her brother's skin.

A thought immediately bubbled in Mabel's mind that Lucifer really did fit the sacred quality of a heavenly angel teaching and watching over God's children.

"Why should I trust you? How did you get into Dipper's body and why did you take over my brother?" She felt her voice rising as the panic she really should've been feeling earlier reared its ugly head in the too-calm situation. Dipp- _Lucifer_ opened his mouth to answer and Mabel took a small step back, shaking her head as she suddenly came to the decision that she really didn't want to hear it.

"And why should I even be listening to anything you say when you show up in my house, proclaim that you're some guardian angel and start possessing my brother?!"

Lucifer's expression didn't falter from that concerned 'you're a kicked puppy I'm going to take care of now' look as he took a single step and reached out towards her, somehow managing to make that single move appear sensitively unsure and regally confident at the same time. All it should've done is reminded Mabel of how foreign the creature inhabiting her brother's body was: Dipper surely would've tripped and nearly fallen on his face by now, but the more she watched Lucifer's body language the harder it was for Mabel to remind herself that that body belonged to the twin brother she knew better than anyone else in the world.

That face and the barely-noticeable tingling sensation that made her think of feathers dusting behind her shoulder blades was all it took to stop Mabel from her retreat and hold her in place.

The Devil smiled inside his host as he noted that the child didn't even seem aware of the glamor-like effect he had on her or his wings closing in. With a subtle kick inside his borrowed grapefruit (he certainly didn't want to crack the façade and validate any of the concern his 'sister' might have) Lucifer silenced the itch of the frantic kid trying to break free from his Grace.

One pluck of that little string Azazel left, as well as the firm memory of his puppet saying yes put the soul back in its place.

"Like I said before, the only way I'm able to physically influence the Earth is with the help of a willing vessel. Your brother had to consent to my presence, Mabel, and as soon as I came to him and told him of what I planned to do to the Earth he did so without hesitation." Lucifer's hand slowly reached up and brushed against her cheek with curiosity and an almost cautious affection, the gesture made Mabel feel like glass and somehow felt a thousand times more awkward than any of her brother's sibling hugs but a thousand times more natural coming from the creature- _angel_ before her.

Dipper's body leaned forward and whispered in her ear despite the privacy, trying to create a caring sense of intimacy with her and stroking her pride by standing on his tip-toes. "I would never lie to you, Mabel. To you nor to your brother. The one thing he wanted most, more than even any of the wonderful plans I have to return the Earth to how it's meant to be, is to keep you safe, to keep you happy."

Lucifer leaned back to a more comfortable distance to take in the wide-eyed look on Mabel's expression. He masked his smirk as a soft grin: he may never lie to his vessels, but that didn't mean that the Serpent wouldn't use his silver tongue to say exactly the right words to keep the children where he needed them to be. The little omission of the fact that Lucifer assured Dipper's consent through a little demon contract before he arrived was irrelevant.

He already had Adam, and it was never the challenge to trick Eve.

"Your brother has been a great help to me, and there's nothing I would regret more than to see you or him hurt. And when my work is done and the Earth is finally the way Father truly intended it-" Lucifer cut off for a second as he thought of the world finally free from these hairless apes, and Mabel stared on enraptured by the emotions that suddenly danced in her the angel's eyes at the future he was imagining.

It shouldn't be this hard to focus when her brother (who somehow seemed so different than him with the different looks and attitude but was still _Dipper_ ) wassomewhere in there.

Lucifer's eyes didn't meet hers as he continued, still lost in the wonder only he could see. "The world will finally be _paradise_." And then, as if remembering himself (yet without the shock or jolt a less divine creature may have had) the angel locked eyes with the human before him, "And in return for all that your brother has done you and he will get to see it. Just think, Mabel. The world as it was meant to be. All of my Father's marvelous creations in harmony after its rebirth. No more conflicts. No more destruction. No more mere pockets of wondrous creatures living while hiding away from the rest of the world."

Mabel felt him grab one of her hands that hung at her side in his, cradling it as if physical contact would make the dream come across clearer. "It'll be everything you ever wanted in that small Gravity Falls and more. No more school, no more bus rides home, no more forces trying to separate you and your brother. When he and I are done, it'll be an eternal summer."

Mabel's face was as frozen in a daze of emotion and memories as Lucifer's calculated dream before, and the Devil smiled softly as he began the final pull to reel her in. "You would like that, wouldn't you Mabel?" He all but whispered.

Her small nod was as binding as a deal. It was a small price to pay, Lucifer figured, although just deigning to deal with the human made him sick. Yes, Gravity Falls would still remain the sanctuary it was after the apocalypse was finally completed the way it was meant to be, even if the tables were turned. It was the perfect Garden for the two human children to live out the end of their species when he was done shaping the rest of the world.

He pulled lightly on her hand in his grip, bringing her to stand slightly behind him to the side as he turned to face out the window for the first time since her entrance. "I need you to be strong for me Mabel, to stay safe for Dipper. We'll do all we can to keep this place safe, but you must promise me not to leave Piedmont, not to leave home until all of this is over."

Lucifer could see the constant haze of curiosity on the girl's face condensing into a question as he settled his gaze on the backyard outside the window, subtly and successfully prompting her to do the same. He let another graceful smirk spread across his borrowed features, less subtle this time as he regaled in how the dumb human was practically eating out of his hand, down to the light exhale as the W of 'why' died softly on her lips, following his will before the Devil even had to make himself clear.

She was practically his puppet as much as her brother was.

The word Mabel was about to say faded away as she took in the sight before her, the backyard where she and Dipper had spent their childhoods running and playing filled with people: everyone she knew in Piedmont and everyone she didn't, from her friends to her teachers to the neighbors and everyone besides her parents staring up at her.

No, staring at _Lucifer_. With completely black eyes.

"Everything and _everyone_ here will make sure you're safe. Will make sure that everything now goes as it's meant to be." Lucifer turned back towards Mabel, and for the first time she saw a glint of something more sinister than joy and heavenly intentions in the angel's eye, something even more off-putting than the already little resemblance he had to Dipper.

He brushed a loose strand of hair back behind her ear and the smile grew even larger. "It makes it so much _easier_ for the both of us to have you on our side where you're meant to be, _sister_."

As the angel wrapped Mabel into a hug, it wasn't the loose, barely-touching in darkish fear of being _too_ close that was so Dipper. It was firm without being tight, again feeling like a gesture to wrap glass more than to embrace.

Both twins felt the phantom brushes of Lucifer's wings wrapping the around them as reinforcements to the Devil's embrace. And as Mabel looked down from where her head was above Dipper's shoulder and Dipper tried to tear his vision away from the forced direction of the demon's gaze at the demon army- _wardens_ \- below, both twins couldn't help but feel certain meaning come across from the gesture that they were trapped in Lucifer's cage.

* * *

Yep. This whole series (Curtain Call was plotted first, then Afterlife to tie in DP because I'm a nerd) was based on the idea that since Azazel's special kid combination was intended to determine Lucifer's vessel, technically _anyone_ with demon blood could host the archangel, and Dean being able to host Michael was bloodlines/coincidence/destiny giving the Winchesters a cosmic f-you. One to two more chapters, and one to two more sucker punches of hurt coming hopefully soon. Excuse/spoiler: Michael and Mabel in a scene together is _really_ hard to get right.

And as a note, no the twins haven't heard of Lucifer before. I'm going with the Alex-supported idea that they were raised fairly secularly, and though they know the idea of some of the biblical stories, they aren't familiar with Revelations and don't automatically know the Devil by name. I can't say for sure whether I knew Lucifer when I was twelve, but I know it was sometime around then I personally heard the whole story.


	2. Chapter 2

**Long AN awaits: Happy early Halloween! I would say sorry for the wait but I know this is one of the faster updates I've had recently, mainly as I've been busy enough with college to only have free writing time when inspiration strikes rather than sitting down to write fic. The first part here was written before uploading the last chapter, but the rest came about as procrastinating on studying for an Optics midterm that went surprisingly well today. If you look carefully you can see the shout-out to mirrors when I realized I should really be studying for that exam.**

 **That said, writing this deviated a lot from what I was expecting. The overall flow of the chapter goes about as outlined almost two years ago now (wow), but a sizable deviation was taken in response to the Gravity Falls canon that has emerged since. For those of you newer to the GF fandom, my outline predates the confirmation of Stanford Pines' existence. If you look at last chapter's AN you'll see my response was to make this non-Weirdmageddon compliant, but somehow along the way of writing I managed to work a reaction to Escape From Reality in. Still not sure how I feel about the Pines' reaction to the Apocalypse after already dealing with the Oddpocalyse, but I guess references to it means I have to admit it happened now. Also Bill/Azazel is clearly still alive, so Weirdmageddon 3 obviously didn't happen, but Gravity Falls was still saved and the twins still made it home. Somehow. If the weird interpretation of canon bugs you I'd love to nerd about how the twins saved the day and how they would respond to it in light of the plot here, but I figured you rather have the chapter now than me hold it indefinitely due to this small discomfort with canon plot when I can AU handwave it instead. Escape From Reality was added because I think it'd be cheap to Mabel's character to ignore that arc given how similar this one is to what the writers incorporated as her climax; its ties to the larger plot of the finale isn't as important in my mind as its impact on the cast so I rather cherrypick it than ignore it.**

 **On characterization, I'll say this is the first time I've rewatched specific clips of a show (Supernatural in this case) to pick up character traits, mainly because I couldn't do the angels appearing below justice without going over their relatively brief appearances with a fine-toothed comb. Hope they come out okay and consistent, since my opinion on how they would view characters, especially Mabel, is still iffy, but see the last paragraph for why I'm willing to shrug it off now. That said, I'm proud of this chapter and this fic as a whole. This is definitely one of if not my favorite Superfalls universe I've designed, and as this nears the end of my plan I'd love to see what other people imagine would come from this situation.**

 **That's a lot of commentary for now, and there'll be a bit (a lot, now that I've finished it) more after the fic simply because I do have an announcement on updates/the fic as a whole that are based on spoilers for this chapter, so I hope you didn't mind/skipped over the long AN here/at the end, and enjoy the fic!**

* * *

The Devil stared at his vessel's twin sister as her slippered feet padded back towards the room the humans shared. The girl agreed with a nod to go back to bed for the day: excused by false concern for her well-being and shock (he just needed her body and soul unharmed) and the more legitimate truth that he and his vessel had work to do. Lucifer wasn't too concerned about not always being able to stay in this stronghold in order to watch the girl when she next woke. The demons he entrusted to possess her parents may be filth, but they were loyal enough to him to die before letting there be any security breaches in or out.

For now, on the other hand…

"Azazel."

His trusted lieutenant throughout the setup of the first apocalypse appeared before him, albeit in his strange new preferred form. Lucifer was never one to appreciate a demon, but having Azazel on his side as he set up God's script was useful, especially given his new abilities.

Lucifer looked down the hallway. "Keep an eye on her dreams. Make sure there are no unwanted visitors."

Azazel let out a laugh that was different from what Lucifer remembered of his most loyal servant floated away towards the room cackling, "Of course! We wouldn't want Shooting Star flying away through the cracks!"

Lucifer turned back to the window facing the lawn where all of his demons gathered. Being tied to suburban California and needing to keep the feeble princess locked in her tower were small prices to pay in exchange of the freedom of being released from the Cage when his Death broke in to get his former vessel's soul back. He had no intention of going back to Sam Winchester, even though shared experience and, dare he say it, _sentiment_ may protect the young man he last played these games with as much as he promised it would help the Pines twins.

After all, with the next generation of Azazel's special children now growing into the next generation of potential vessels, the Winchesters could be removed from their obstructive starring roles and rendered obsolete. Lucifer already had an army, a vessel who while unwilling would never fight back as long as his sister was under demons' watchful eyes, and its twin who was a treasure and a vessel herself.

Not that Lucifer was planning on letting Michael get to her. If there was one thing the Apocalypse taught the fallen angel it's that although God may have left, he left a script that wasn't so easily broken, and his brothers unlike the Winchesters were all too happy to play their roles to their demise.

But Azazel, the ever-faithful servant, had a backup plan, and his chaotic new form led to some good ideas that would be just what they need to change the ending to how it should have gone. With the elder Winchester no more likely to doom the world than before and the elder Pines ignorantly blissful in her gilded cage, there was no one for Michael to possess to duke it out and stop his fallen brother from burning the world and reshaping it as Lucifer saw fit.

Which in the Devil's perspective, was a perfectly acceptable ending to this encore.

* * *

Mabel wasn't sure how she managed to fall asleep not half an hour after she got up that morning, but seeing Dipper- no, _Lucifer_ and all the weird stuff going on must've left her more shocked than she realized. It only took a few seconds of staring at the ceiling after her head hit the pillow (in-between the piles of stuffed animals, but their softness felt scratchy and fake compared to earlier this morning) for Mabel to fall into a deep sleep.

When Mabel opened her eyes she was in paradise.

She was laying in the grass looking up at the sky, and her first thought was that the sky was only this blue and the sun this bright (yet miraculously not burning her eyes after an impromptu nap) in Mabeland. A brief wave of panic washed over her until she realized that the sky, albeit blue, was free of rainbows, and the grass, albeit green, did not go on in rolling hills populated with ponies (not unicorns, never again unicorns) until it was dotted in the distance with stuffed animal trees. The only thing dotting the hills here were graves.

The graves made Mabel's heart sing rather than scream. She recognized these gravestones, and with them came memories not of fear but of happiness, and rolling her head to the side her grin split even wider as she saw familiar figures leaning next to her and a stickered paper smiling back from the ground.

She was with friends in the graveyard behind the Valentino Funeral Home.

She was in Gravity Falls.

Wendy's laugh washed over her, teasing Thompson for something inevitably dumb he'd said, followed by all of the other teens joining in. Dipper was to her right staring at Wendy in awkward-crush awe, but he turned his head and smiled at her, and Mabel almost felt tears well up in her eyes at how _relieved_ she was to see her dorky-brother in those eyes rather than an angel.

This was what she wanted again. An endless summer with Dipper and Wendy, Candy and Grenda and Pacifica and all of the other friends she'd made here having fun and being carefree. Forever. And while Mabel still felt unsure of what happened before she fell asleep she thought that maybe Lucifer might be right in saying this was worth it. Whatever _it_ was.

Then she remembered Blendin Blandin and Ford's apprenticeship and dreams turning to ash and the world going weird and Mabel was hit with the full realization that she's dreaming again. Running away from her problems again. Looking back on that last week of summer Mabel isn't sure if she would rather go back to that or normal life in Piedmont but she knew Dipper and Wendy and her Grunkles would want her to do something.

"Wow Mabel, it isn't like you to zone out on us like this. That's more of a Dipper thing." Wendy's voice suddenly cut through her internal brooding.

"Hey!"

"Huh?" Each twin responded at the same time. Wendy pushed herself up to lean on her shoulder, pointing a concerned glance in Mabel's direction and wow she was acting like Dipper just now wasn't she.

"Come on Mabel. Lighten up! Stop sulking and thinking about what's going on here and start making up your mind on what you're going to do about it! If you _want_ to do anything about it..." Wendy flashed a smile in her direction that was so quintessentially Wendy. It wasn't too strong and macho or supportively sugarcoated, it carried a note of sisterly understanding (and a small promise her fists would back up whatever pushed Mabel in the right direction) that somehow convinced Mabel that Wendy was somehow in the dream right along with her.

That was the scary thing about this place. It wasn't like Bill's bubble where Mabel knew she was alone: this version of Gravity Falls felt sincere. The air tasted of grave dirt, Dipper's sweat, and summer, not of waffle-men and Smile Dip and fake-saccharine sweetness.

This dream of Gravity Falls had the one thing Mabeland was missing: it overcame the weakness of fantasy vs reality with the illusion that fantasy _was_ reality.

"So, what are you going to do?" Wendy was sitting on the ground now, her laid-back attitude cut with a bit of what Mabel could read as impatience as she looked over at Mabel.

"About what?" There was nothing that immediately stood out to Mabel so she looked around. Everyone was here. Everyone was happy. The list said so. What else could possibly need to be done?

This was her paradise after all.

Suddenly terrified to admit otherwise, Mabel felt her voice crack. "There's… there's nothing here to do. Nothing's wrong here!"

The air went cold. "Maybe you could start with fixing the things _you've_ ruined." Mabel froze at the thought of the list she once made of her sins. Wendy was the one who convinced her she was a good person. This Wendy now had an expression as still as stone and her words didn't sound like her anymore. They cut like knives.

"Robbie and Tambry are still disgustingly infatuated with each other, after all." A hint of sarcasm and an eye roll accompanied the jab at the pair and it was like the moment shattered, the temperature partially returning to normal and Wendy relaxing as if the uncharacteristic emotions had passed. She flopped back on the grass, directly next to Mabel this time, but her eyes stayed on the other girl with a hint of wrongness behind the more familiar gaze. The technically-now-a-teen shivered, terrified by the reminder how little anyone was acting like themselves today. "Gideon's still in jail and the town is missing one of its main attractions because you wouldn't talk to him."

"Your Uncle Ford's still trapped in that other dimension because you haven't told Stan it's okay to stop lying yet." Mabel couldn't tell if the whole world was freezing again or if it was just her.

The eyes that faced her as Wendy turned her head seemed to be like Wendy's, but were more aware, dancing in that glassy look hidden just behind her eyes. "Or you could finally decide to do something about the fact you're dreaming and fight."

"What?"

Wendy smirked, that bout of uncharacteristic _otherness_ and frustration slipping away into her usual confidence again. "Dude, it wasn't that hard to figure out. You and Dipper are here and the rest of the gang isn't bothered at all. Even if they weren't even a little peeved about how our group's expanded to include to include a couple of _'little twerps'_ " she laughed at her own impersonation of Robbie's voice, her eyes dancing with secret mirth at the unspoken times the twins had been more mature than most of the adults Wendy knew, "they definitely would've had a minor quarrel over _something_ going on between them.

"Not to mention how unbelievable bright and colorful everything is. I think I heard Nate complement Lee on his shirt and I'm pretty sure that dude's red-green colorblind."

"Oh." Mabel sighed in a mix of shame and a giggle, looking around for the first time since Wendy's eyes seemed to capture her to try to make out said friends and noticing that they didn't seem to be on a hill any more. They didn't seem to be anywhere. She and Wendy were laying back looking up in the middle of an empty nothingness, and it made Mabel feel even more off-puttingly hollow.

When had anything she dreamed up been this _colorless_ …?

"It's okay." Wendy's hand was on her shoulder now. The teen looked just a hint sad and entirely herself, any off-ness completely dissolving in. It struck Mabel to see her friend feel that way. It was the same sadness as they all felt when they found the apocalypse after bursting her bubble. "I remember wanting to stay in Mabeland too. But you know you can't just stay in here when bad things are going on out there. You know you can't stand by when Dipper's in trouble."

"But…" Mabel remembered seeing the shadow of Dipper back by the staircase, remembered how much brighter his eyes shone in Gravity Falls, even compared to when it was actually him back in Piedmont before Lucifer. She lurched forward into Wendy's arm and felt the other one wrap around her, giving her the comforting hug she needed. Wendy felt as much of strength and kickass and friendship as Mabel always imagined she did.

"Dipper agreed to it. It can't be all that bad if Dipper said it was okay." Mabel felt so small, spouting excuses she wasn't entirely sure she believed in the ever-expansive blankness surrounding them, but Dipper wasn't here now. He wasn't back in Piedmont either. Dipper was waiting for her back there in her dream and Mabel never promised she would face reality without her twin.

Mabel could feel Wendy's smile in her shoulder. "C'mon dude, this is Dipper we're talking about. We both know he's always to getting himself into a lot of stupidly dangerous stuff."

The older girl paused. "Or, well, I guess just you know, because I'm totally a figment of your imagination right now. But you also know that whenever Dipper gets himself in too deep you're always the one who finds an incredible way to come around and stop him before he gets too far. Because that's what awesome siblings do."

Mabel found herself starting to smile. "But what am I supposed to do?"

"Well, the end plan is definitely going to involve marching up to that angel who's possessing your brother and showing him who's boss. And to do that you're going to have to get over this and wake yourself up. But for starters…"

Wendy pushed herself back so she could hold Mabel at arm's length. Mabel felt the stare from the older girl drilling into her, laser focus even stronger than when the young lumberjack set her sights on a war path. Mabel felt something foreign in the long that made her avert her gaze.

"But for starters you're going to have to say **yes**."

"What?"

There was a pause. A weight hung in the air and Mabel could taste the expectation on her tongue. It was the foreboding promise of a big decision: the same weight Mabel felt when Dipper was leaving and she had the chance to make a Time Bubble to keep summer forever, the same weight when Dipper was possessed and she had the chance to help Lucifer build a paradise for both of them.

That weight always steered her wrong. It always played on her heart and her love of everything she had to trick her into throwing it all away. But Mabel didn't feel that this time. The crushing pressure felt hollow, and while part of Mabel said the decision was to wake up something else said that saying yes meant staying and doing something else entirely.

Mostly she just felt really confused.

"I don't _get it_." That voice clearly wasn't Wendy's, and Mabel looked up to see someone completely different staring down at her, standing on his feet and seeming impossibly tall looming over her kneeling form with no reference or perspective from the white background.

The young man was blond, and in his late teens or early twenties. His eyes looked sunken in and his face was twisted with a hint of scorn. Like Dipper earlier, no, she kept needing to correct herself, like Lucifer earlierk he seemed to have two expressions warring over his face, tiny hints of a familiar habitual one carefully carved into more potent intentions.

The intentions matched that anger that had seeped into Wendy earlier. The residual person just looked hurt and _forgotten_.

"I don't get how we followed along with every single plan and got to _this_." The man looked down on her, tilting his head as he examined her and all of his expressions turned to stone. He took a step and began to circle her, face still betraying nothing but a speck of confusion and pure will. "I don't get how every predetermined action and consequence followed to bring me here to you."

The angel, for Mabel suddenly realized that powerful detachment could only come from someone like Lucifer, paused at Mabel's back, and with a glance over her shoulder Mabel could see his head right itself, his eyes continuing to bore into her as if they could see her soul. Maybe he could.

If so, he didn't seem to like what he saw.

"Bloodlines I understand. My brother's rebellion I understand. I can even see at the end of the day why God had everything fall completely apart the first time. To reward humanity for their strides. To remind us of why he loves them before reminding us that in the end it carries on and His orders must be carried out.

"But no matter how I look at it I cannot understand how I am supposed to see myself reflected in _you_."

There was no outright hostility in his voice at the statement, although the angel made it perfectly clear that he felt disgusted comparing himself to Mabel.

"You are the elder sibling, but you did not raise your brother. You love him, and that love is strong, but not in a way that would make you feel the same way as I do about the prospect of having to kill him with your own hands."

Mabel blanched. "What are you going to do to Dipper-?"

But the angel didn't seem to hear her. "No. While I dread killing Lucifer but will do so knowing that it is right you hurt your brother most by not intending to at all. You probably wouldn't even notice if you made a decision that would kill him."

"I would never do anything to hurt Dipper!"

"No, you wouldn't." The angel's voice remained soft. "But you do your most significant actions while intending to do nothing at all, to keep things the way they are. You can inspire many but you don't know yet how to lead, how to make up your mind, how to even get out of this place." He swung his arms around at the vastness surrounding them, then knelt in front of Mabel.

"But you shouldn't need to do all of that: you're still a child. And that is what I understand least of all. Why did my Father, who from the start entrusted me to raise and watch out for Lucifer and all of my siblings, lead us all to the end in the vessel of a child who has yet to grasp the inevitability of fate? Of the very destiny I have so loyally followed? Why did God make my brother and my alternate vessels in children so innocent and yet prematurely stained?"

His hand reached out and ghosted above Mabel's cheek, his face looking fascinated by the girl but still repulsed enough to refuse to touch her.

Only the last word cut through the confusing haze of so many ideas Mabel couldn't understand. "Stained?"

The angel nodded. "By demon blood, shortly after you were born. It was fed to you and Dipper both. It's why Lucifer is able to take you brother as a vessel. It's why I am drawn to you as my true vessel despite your line being an offshoot of the main lineage. Though the blood shouldn't be in you as well…" That gaze finally met Mabel's eyes for the first time, rather than simply skipping over the window to view her soul. "There are a lot of things I imagine you don't know right about now. I believe I at least deserve to tell you that my name is Michael."

"Michael?" Mabel wondered when she couldn't finally wrap her head around things enough to not only repeat Michael's words.

"Yes. Lucifer is my brother. I love him, but long ago he rebelled and betrayed me and our Father. He left us and caused Father to leave, and Father has decreed that I will have to kill him for it."

Mabel looked up at Michael in horror, "But why can't you and Lucifer just decide to love each other?!"

For a second Michael's mask shattered, and Mabel could tell that the angel truly grieved.

"Lucifer and I do love each other. I love Lucifer as much as you love your brother, and I want nothing more than to not have to kill him. But it must happen. Lucifer believes he knows what is right better than Father, better than anyone. He believes he is recreating perfection by destroying that which matters most to Father and what must be. For that I must kill Lucifer. It has always been written this way. As certain as every season comes to an end."

That unique chill washed down Mabel's spine that she recognized as the feeling of the end of summer. "But why does it have to be that way? Isn't there another way you can let it end? Make Lucifer see without-" Her voice caught on the word, caught on the unspoken certainty Mabel had that if Lucifer died his vessel, her Dipper, died with him. "Without killing him?"

"No." Michael stood again, looking down at her. "I am the older sibling. Watching over Lucifer, stopping him when it's necessary, is something I need to do. I can tell Lucifer no longer intends to fight me: it's why he decided to orchestrate a new true vessel in secret, it's why he tried to keep me from getting to you. But Lucifer still intends to unleash chaos on this world, destroy our Father's work in ways no one can recover. As his older brother it's my duty to watch over him, and kill him before he can become more of a monster than he is.

"I understand there is still much you don't know, and I understand you are innocent and don't want to grow up, but unfortunately Father plotted all of this so I can teach you that eventually everything has to end, and all the innocence in the world cannot stop that. It is sad to need to kill your brother, and I don't want to any more than you do, but just remember that Father planned all of this out. Father gave you Dipper so you could have those years with him. Just as Father gave you Dipper so that you could eventually fulfill your destiny and kill him."

Mabel stood, her head shaking, half tempted to bury herself in Sweater Town if she thought it could help her escape from Michael and destiny looming before her. "I don't want to…"

"This isn't about want; this is about orders! Lucifer is going to destroy the world and you have the chance to stop it! You don't even have to worry about anything: I'll keep you safe, I'll bring all of your loved ones back, I'll make sure you suffer no ill effects. You won't have to do anything but say yes. I have to go out there and kill my brother and you _don't want_ to just come along for the ride!"

Mabel took a step back further. Michael's presence felt suffocating, like his being was reaching out and closing in on her from behind despite there being an endless expanse of nothingness in every direction. "But you can't bring Dipper back. You won't bring my brother back."

Michael shook his head. "I just don't get it. I understand that you love him, but you've sacrificed him for plenty of other things before. You've abandoned him, used him, acted in so many ways a sibling shouldn't and now of all times you decide for his sake to cast everything else in the world aside. You're not righteous: you have your moments and your brilliance but you're just as selfish as every other human being. Why now? Why suddenly abandon everything you are and everything you know for a brother who's already possessed by Lucifer?"

His gaze met hers, and Mabel could feel the angel's being suffocating her, making the entire whiteness seem unbearably bright.

"Who would sacrifice everything, all that the world's worked for, just for their sibling?"

"Dipper would." Mabel felt the words instinctively rise in the back of her mouth, wanted to say the retort, wanted to scream it at the angel asking her to give up everything for some twisted version of destiny. But she was too weak. She was human and scared and despite her confidence in her answer and herself Michael was an angel. Michael's gaze was burning her and judging her and Mabel knew she couldn't hide inside her bubble any longer.

Then she saw Michael's burning glare shift behind her and realized that the words dancing across her tongue _had_ been spoken aloud.

By someone else entirely.

Wrenching her head to look over her shoulder fast enough to give her vertigo, Mabel stared in awe at her little brother's form, a smile breaking across her face as she took in every detail that made Dipper him.

Until she realized it wasn't Dipper standing there. It was _him_.

"Hello brother," Lucifer's steady voice let out in Dipper's shifting tone. His eyes shifted to the girl standing between them, "Mabel."

While Dipper's body was his own, Lucifer's possession left far more obvious marks in Mabel's dream. His hair was properly cleaned, for once, and gelled back as if perfectly styled and having never dared touch a hat in its existence. His trademark vest and shorts were gone, replaced in a white suit that somehow both blended in and made him stand out from the void around him. Her brother looked so familiar yet so inherently different: like an inverted version of Bipper's reverend costume, but the presence behind his eyes was subtler, more in control.

Mabel suddenly had the distant realization that she was caught between two archangels preparing for a fight damaging enough to have been prophesized as the Apocalypse. A fight that could very well break out in her dreamscape unless she did something about it.

"Lucifer." Michael called out, his voice accented with the force of a shout despite the other angel being within 10 feet of him and no interference in the space between them.

"Michael." Lucifer nodded. "It is good to see you again, although I thought you would've told me if you were planning to visit."

"What is the meaning of this?" Michael's eyes narrowed. "You have no reason to keep my true vessel from me, to keep this from finally coming to an end as Father intended. Why do you hide and then continually interfere to keep my vessel away?"

Lucifer's eyes only softened. The expression was one Mabel had seen on Dipper's face dozens of times before aimed at her, and to see the angel shoot it to Michael was like a punch in the gut. "I don't want to hurt you Michael. I don't want to fight you and I'm not going to, even if that means saying screw it to Father's plan." Lucifer threw out his arms. "I've already rebelled, as you're so keen to remind me, so why not fall farther to save you?"

The fallen angel stepped in front of Mabel, and Mabel felt the ghostly stirring of air of wings being drawn beside her, shielding her from Michael. "So I'm sorry brother, but I have to do this. And if I can stop you from dying and fighting me by keeping you from taking your true vessel, then I'm keeping Mabel with me." Lucifer shot a smirk back in her direction, and Mabel could feel for a second as if Devil was letting Dipper see through his vessel's eyes.

"And she and I'll keep doing it as long as it keeps both of our brothers safe."

Mabel's knees suddenly went weak and her voice seemed to escape as she realized she didn't know what to say. She didn't want to say yes to Michael, didn't want to kill Dipper and would do anything to protect him, but that look on Lucifer's face suddenly screamed with the wrongness that had been whispering in her head last time she saw him.

He would protect what he promised at the cost of the entire world. And he looked at her like he knew she would never choose the other way.

The soothing morphed even more to smug satisfaction at her silence.

Michael's stone face cracked a scowl. "You are going this far to defy our Father?"

Lucifer faced his brother again, tilting his head like he was telling a joke. "Father made me do all of this. Father made me to be the Devil. I'd just say I'm finally living up to his expectations."

Lucifer stepped forward. "Peace, Michael. We both know you aren't going to be able to stop me while in that vessel. Your only choices are Mabel and Dean. But you aren't able to find Dean right now to even inform him that you're free from the Cage and you _won't_ be able to find Mabel again." Another phantom weight Mabel recognized as the fallen angel's wings brushed against her shoulder.

"Besides, she's already made it plenty clear she does not consent."

Michael scowled at his brother. Her brother. "You dare to go this far to turn my vessel against me? Do you have any dignity left?"

Lucifer didn't even flinch. "Says the one who came to his vessel by twisting her dream and the memory of a friend behind the scenes. I saw what you did Michael: when you saw her fear you decided against appearing to her honestly and disguised yourself to see if you could guilt her into consenting instead." He tsked softly. "Such manipulation, brother, of the monkeys you claim to _love_ under Father's orders. Are you finally admitting that I've been right all along?"

Michael stormed forward turned to Mabel. "Are you really going to not make a choice? Sit back yet again and watch the world burn just to protect a shadow of your brother?"

Lucifer grabbed the other angel with both arms, catching his brother in front of his chest and refusing to let him push further towards where Mabel still stood, staring at the two wide-eyed. It looked strange seeing the much shorter form of the teenager restrain the young adult, but if anything it was only Michael who struggled. Lucifer barely appeared to be making an effort.

"Brother, I love you, and trust me there is nothing I want more than for us not to have to fight." Lucifer whispered up in Michael's ear. Or, closer to Michael's shoulder due to the difference in their vessels' heights. "Especially since in our respective vessels it'll only end with me killing you."

Michael broke eye contact with Mabel to look down at Lucifer. "Then give up. Apologize to Father and go back to the way things were before. We can make amends."

Lucifer's smirk only widened. "That's what I'm trying to tell you, brother. For if you haven't realized it yet, I'm going to win." He pushed and shoved Michael's vessel back. "And maybe if you're stuck vessel-less in Heaven I can dispatch enough of our other stubborn brothers to make you see sense and spare you. I don't want to kill any of you." His face suddenly looked thoughtful. "And maybe I'll even find another solution…" The fallen angel trailed off, before returning to focus on Michael.

"But I am going to restore Father's final creation to the masterpiece it truly is. And once you see how beautiful it can be you'll know I'm right. Until then…"

He turned around, and placed the same iron grip that restrained an angel on Mabel's shoulder. He glanced back at Michael, body completely relaxed in a way that emphasized he didn't see his brother as a threat.

"I'm afraid you'll have to find a way to speak with me in a place that doesn't involve Mabel. It shouldn't be hard to wait until I find you: you never visited my Cage once over all these years after all. At least until Sammy helped you _drop in_."

Lucifer's hand squeezed Mabel's shoulder and the whiteness surrounding her suddenly became far too blinding. Without even thinking her own eyes also slammed shut.

When Mabel opened them again she saw the fallen angel leaning over her in her brother's shape. His hair and clothes were back to Dipper's normal appearance rather than the pristine suit, and the two of them were back in Piedmont.

"Don't worry, Mabel. I know you didn't like everything you heard but I did promise that I'd never lie to you. I still promise to keep both you and Dipper safe."

He backed away from her bed, settling off his tip-toes he needed to reach. It was strangely odd to see the angel on his tippy-toes. "My priority is and always will be protecting our brothers. But I can't let that stop me from recreating Paradise if they get in our way."

Lucifer left the room, and Mabel felt all that weight of the unspoken decision to stay crush her into the soft bed. She felt too weak to move, like a puppet with all its strings cut. Even her thoughts felt limp after everything she'd just witnessed.

She couldn't' even decide if she wanted to try to curve her lips to mouth the word _**yes**_.

* * *

Lucifer paused in the doorway, easing it closed on the foolish human behind him. It was demeaning needing to play up to a child like that, but she was so much easier to manipulate than Sammy, and that helped to make up for it.

Still, he couldn't help but admire the spark he had seen in her, the passion for life that burned brighter than the rest of humanity and the love those eyes held every time they looked at her brother's vessel. Her compassion reminded her so much of Sammy, of what he must've been like had he met the Devil when he was closer to her age.

Michael didn't yet seem to understand how much that look she held reminded Lucifer of Dean.

They were different from the previous vessels, yes, but that was largely why Lucifer hadn't gone back to the Winchesters. The Pines were so much younger, more naïve, but still quirkily human in a way that allowed them to play out the Apocalypse so perfectly.

They didn't exactly embody himself and Michael in the same way as Sam and Dean, but that was far from saying their new vessels were defective. Even perfect mirrors can invert the image that comes too close rather than reflect it. And oh the irony that of the two archangels, it was Lucifer who was locked in Hell for his hatred of the hairless apes who understood how they worked better than his brother did.

The Devil tore his eyes from the door and walked down the hall, ready to go back to re-leashing Death and readying his horsemen and army. A flash and the neon yellow shape of Azazel joined him in the air.

"You did well in alerting me to Michael's presence, Azazel. My brother should not be bothering his vessel again."

The dream demon glowed in appreciation at Lucifer's words. "And if any other angels invade her dreams?"

Lucifer considered the possibility. Mabel was precious, but he was not a human's babysitter. Michael was the only significant threat. "It is to be expected that you cannot handle an archangel, but with Gabriel gone and Raphael weakened from Heaven's own civil war you should be able to keep any of my other brothers out." He looked over at the demon. "The more pressing concern is keeping her isolated and distracted. I would be sorely disappointed if she did any more damage that could lead to changing her mind."

The Devil paused, sympathy for his amusing puppets curling his lips. "So give her some sweet dreams. She'll stay easier if she's happy, and there's no reason for her or Dipper here to think I'm unnecessarily cruel." Lucifer walked away, leaving on young Pines behind him and the other within him, shooting a smirk at the reflection of the child in the window, only partially visible over the legion of demons outside.

* * *

 **I will preemptively say that the next chapter will likely be a while, if ever. When original imagining this fic it was flexibly either a two or three-shot. The main goals of the story have been hit in this chapter, but there was another perspective (you can probably guess from these past two chapters) I debated including in this story but didn't have a clear plan for how it would go.**

 **To demonstrate with an insight into my writing style: I normally have a fully fledged image/drabble of a climax for each chapter and I later write rising action up to and then falling action after (Ch 1 was Lucifer showing Mabel the demons possessing almost all of Piedmont and wrapping her in her wings and Ch 2 was** **the call-out to Sock Opera in Michael then Mabel + Lucifer's "who would sacrifice everything for their sibling/Dipper would"). The climax of the whole fic normally is the last planned chaper climax. That scene for each chapter was designed before Curtain Call was even published. That scene does not yet exist for Chapter 3, and until it does I have a neat idea with no direction to take it in. It could turn in to the originally planned final chapter. It could turn into a segue for actually playing out the Apocalypse/an epic quest to stop it (spoiler: that actually was never my intention with this fic or series. It's playing off of Lucifer's intentions of avoiding derailing the apocalypse as S5 of SPN did or beating the apocalypse as GF did. I'm not going to outright say he's going to win, but I'll leave the protagonist's final confrontations against him up to you. Like I said in the note about Weirdmageddon above, I'm more focused on writing the characterization and how the crossover mirrors each show, I hope you can imagine the epic finale based on this as I can and I'd love to hear your thoughts/share mine with you in pm or on tumblr.**

 **That's all for now until when (if) chapter 3 develops. None of this is to say I'm abandoning or ignoring this fic, it's definitely my favorite by the attention it's gotten, but I didn't want any of you reading to feel like I'm intentionally selling you or this fic short if it ends here or takes a while to continue. Looking over this as I write I worry some of you may have seen the switch from direct POV character study in Afterlife/Curtain Call to traditional scene-based fic as a sign that this final installment of the series would play out all the world-building. Maybe one day a fourth installment will come out that will, or someone else could write it, but in my outlines that was never the intention. Thank you to everyone on this site who's inspired/enjoyed it, and hope you don't mind the continued rambling.**


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